June 22. 1987: 10,000 protesters form ten mile long human chain around U.S. airbase, Okinawa.

June 23. 1970: On the 11th day of protests against a new U.S.-Japan defense treaty, more than 750,000 Japanese take to the streets in numerous cities.

June 24. 1994: After years of refusal, U.S. finally ratifies International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

June 25. 1876: Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapahoe defeat Gen. Custer's troops at Little Big Horn, Montana. 1978: In response to the passage of an anti-gay ordinance in Miami, 240,000 people march in San Francisco in the first large-scale version of that city's annual Gay Freedom Day Parade.

June 26. 1894: Beginning of Pullman Railroad Strike, largest industrial strike to date in U.S. history, eventually broken by federal government troops. At least two dozen strikers were killed, and Pres. Cleveland suspended the constitutional right to assembly (the ability of any two or more people to meet in public) in seven states.

June 27. 1905: Industrial Workers of the World, radical union, founded in Chicago. 1986: World Court rules U.S. support for Nicaraguan "contras" violates international law.

June 28. 1969: Stonewall Rebellion in New York City--a riot of drag queens enraged by yet another evening of casual police brutality--marks birth of modern gay rights movement in U.S.

June 29. 1917: W.E.B. DuBois leads silent march by blacks against lynching, New York City. 1972: U.S. Supreme Court declares all current state death penalty laws unconstitutional. A later ruling allows states to rewrite laws to reinstitute capital punishment in 1976.

June 30. 1852: Duwamish tribe awarded $62,000 for the taking of their aboriginal lands, including the present-day site of the city of Seattle. 1964: United Nations intervention ends civil war in the Congo, Africa.

July 1. 1492: King of Spain, culminating the Spanish Inquisition, gives all Jews in Spain 30 days to leave the country. Some of the confiscated Jewish assets are then used to finance the voyage of Columbus.

July 2. 1777: Vermont becomes first union state to abolish slavery. 1986: The U.S. Supreme Court upholds affirmative action as a corrective measure for past discrimination.

July 3. 1835: Children strike at Paterson, NJ, for eleven hour day and six day week. With the help of adults, they win a compromise settlement of a 69 hour work week.

July 4. 1627: Virginia colony orders "scorched earth" policy against Tanx Phwhatan, Weanocs, Appomattocx, Chicahominies, Warrisquojacke, Nansemonds and Chesapeakes. 1966: First federal Freedom of Information Act signed into law in U.S. 1982: 200 Israeli army reservists march against Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

July 5. 1934: In "Bloody Thursday," police attack striking longshoremen and their supporters in San Francisco at Rincon Hill, killing two and injuring over 100. 1948: War-ravaged Britain adopts National Health Service Act, which includes medical, unemployment, motherhood, widow, orphan, old age, and death benefits.